- 
CHAPTER -& 
FROM THE EDGE OF A PRECIPICE 
| HAVE been watching the black guillemots. Like 
the common ones, they often carry a fish they 
have caught, for a very long time in the bill, before 
swallowing it, or even before giving it to their young. 
They will swim with it for half an hour or so, con- 
stantly dipping it beneath the water, and apparently 
nibbling on it with the bill, whilst they hold it thus 
submerged. Then finding themselves near a rock 
which is ascendable, they ascend it, and lie couched 
there for a while, resting, always with the fish in their 
bill. Anon, with refreshed energies, they re-enter 
the sea with it, and, if very patient, and prepared 
to watch indefinitely, one may at last see that fish 
swallowed ; but I hardly think I should be exaggerat- 
ing were I to say that hours may pass in this way. 
They usually hold the fish by the middle, or just 
below the head, and if they want to shift their hold 
from one place to the other, they sink down their 
bills into the water, as though better able to do so 
through its medium. To mandibulate a fish in the air, 
quite freely, as does the cormorant, is, perhaps, beyond 
their power. Any moment, however, may show me 
that it is not. So, too, when I have seen them 
swallow the fish, they have done so in the same way. 
Instead of raising the head and gulping it down, they 
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